COUNTLESS sleepless nights thinking about Brexit boil down to ‘Super Saturday’ in Parliament tomorrow (October 20) for Redditch MP Rachel Maclean.
And she admits that the vote to accept or reject Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s deal on leaving the EU is ‘on a knife edge’.
“The feedback I have received from the vast majority of people is that they just want it done and for us to move on,” she said.
“I was at St Augustine’s School this morning and met with the school council and all their committees and was asked so many questions about many of the other issues this country faces.”
However she acknowledged that what the people want and what MPs want in the House of Commons could be entirely different.
“In the House people can make their minds up at a moment’s notice, it’s fluid and tribal and unpredictable,” she said.
And although the Democratic Unionist Party has said it can’t support the PM’s deal she could see a way to it getting through.
“I still think it’s possible. If you look at the 21 Conservative MPs who had the whip withdrawn I can see maybe 18 supporting it,” she said.
“Then a few of the European Research Group (ERG) have said they will vote for it, and that’s where we need to see some movement, if some of those people come out and say, yes, we want to do it.
“Then there are 18 Labour MPs who have said they would support a deal, but they are not going to waltz through the lobby with us, so the numbers are going to have to add up for them to act.”
On the deal itself, Mrs Maclean said: “It’s not a perfect situation, it’s about compromise, and it’s about more than Brexit, it’s about democracy.”
And she added that leaving the EU with a deal had always been her preferred option.
“This is absolutely what I want it and for me, there is no reason why anyone should oppose it.
“The objections to the previous deal like the back stop and leaving the customs union have gone.
“Obviously people who want to remain will not be happy with any deal but I am just hoping, praying even, that we get this through.”
